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This is Bill. Others have probably written that members of this forum aren't developers, but "just" users, trying to help one another. For me, the HD Preview, prior to rendering, works well. I know you realize that you could easily clip out a short bit of your rendered video, burn it, play it, and then go back and re-edit if you wish. Aside from that, as a newcomer to all this, I can't offer anything.
Bill Hansen
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I'm a newcomer, but I'd also like the ability to edit dynamic range (highlight/shadows) and the ability to review, side by side, the present edit of a clip with the last previous edit. As for playing a only a segment of video to assess the final quality of the editing (prior to rendering) I've had good luck using the HD Preview or the Full HD Preview features of PD 10 Ultra. I think those last two features aren't available in the DeLuxe version. For me, getting those two features was well worth the upgrade to Ultra.
If anyone has a trick which permits selective editing of dynamic range, that would be really nice to know.
Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY USA
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Schbang - This is the third thread I've read this morning, to which you have posted the same frustrated note, stating that Windows and PD software are not working for you. It's almost as if you were trolling, hoping to convince others that these software applications are poor or useless - which is not the case. I'm sorry you've had so much trouble. It's likely that everyone who reads the forum has seen at least one version of your post. That sould accomplish whatever you wanted to accomplish, shouldn't it?
Bill Hansen
Ithaca NY USA
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Another newcomer and refugee from Pinnacle here. My experience with PD 10 has been 90% positive, and the other 10% has been due to my own lack of knowledge. For me it's been far easier to learn (the holes in my knowledge notwithstanding) than was Pinnacle. While many of the tutorials are far too quick and brief for my level of knowledge, the same was true of Pinnacle. The PDF tutorial bookon PD 10 is a good place for a beginner to start, and the help available from this forum has been just excellent.
As for problems with capture, I haven't seen those because before editing and rendering, I put all my clips onto the computer's HD. There's been no problem opening clips, folders, or projects in PD 10.
Last thing - for a while I used the trial version of PD 10. It worked well. Moving up to the paid version of PD 10 DeLuxe, there were a few features I missed, notably the ability to play previews in "full HD" - which occasionally hesitates but which gives a far better idea of the appropriate level of sharpening etc than the non-HD previews. I moved on to the "Ultra" version of PD 10, which restored those abilities.
Bill Hansen
Ithac NY, USA
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Thanks - I'll keep that in mind. So far, the one title clip I've tried using one of my jpgs worked well - but it's very early days for me, with all of this. I think I can convert to png in Photo Shop CS3 too, but of course if jpgs will work, that avoids one step in the process.
Eventually I know I'll have to get into menus and templates. From the couple of hours I spent at them today trying to substitute my own images for the templates, it seems to be an awful lot to wade through. I'm going to avoid it as long as I can.
Bill
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Thanks again Tony - I've been experimenting with using one of my own still images as the background for the title, and that works fine. In time, I will go on to making a template, using my own images - but for now, this is plenty to absorb!
Bill
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Thanks Tony - Your reply has prompted me to poke around much deeper into the PD tuts. I didn't realize that a Template is mandatory at the start of a PD video.
Ideally I'd like to keep things as simple as I can - just the Default 2D blank title box (uppermost one in the right column of optional title boxes in my copy of PD 10) laid on a Color Board, no chapters, no fancy graphics. No template; just the title on a solid color background. So I guess my question should have been "Is it mandatory to have a template surrounding the title, at the beginning of a PD video?"
I see now that I can modify the background image of the template, even that Monopoly Board template, using one of my own still images. If I have to have a template, I guess that's the way I want to go.
The whole business of introducing Chapters into a video is something I need to put off for a while, as I learn more about the PD program.
Hope this makes sense.
Bill
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When burning a DVD, how do I remove the Monopoly board with its "You Have Won a Trip..." message?
Bill Hansen
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Carl - I'll keep the attachment option in mind, if I need to send longer posts. The resolution to the problem I had with Ultra is almost too embarrassing to admit. Ultra just needed me to shut down the computer and leave it alone for a while. Apparently restarts and even a cleanup by C Cleaner were not enough. [The other thing is that there's something magical about me bitching and moaning about something - right after I post something like that, the problem often resolves itself.]
Bill
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Ultra is working normally now. I had a longer note, explaining what the trouble was - but I guess it was too long and would not be accepted by the forum. - Bill
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Warning - long post.
Thanks for your reply Carl. It looks like I still don't have a working copy of PD 10, other than the trial version, which will run out in another 3 weeks. The paid version of Deluxe (for which they sent me a link, to download) wasn't so deluxe; it was not fully functional, as Cyberlink tech support confirmed during a phone call.
I have to assume that Ultra works the same as the trial version and the same as the Deluxe version; when you want to bring a saved project back into the program, you go to File/Open project, then in the folder where your project is saved, you click on the project ideogram to Open it. The project itself, not the files from which the project was made, should open in the library, and you can pull it down to the time line.
Is there some other way in Ultra?
I was incorrect when I wrote that projects created in the currently installed paid Ultra version will open again in my copy of PD Ultra. They don't. I looked too quickly at the PD Library when opening those projects, and I didn't pull them down into the time line - careless of me. The only things I was pulling back into the program were the original files, not the project itself after edits, transitions, etc.
My copy of Ultra works normally in most respects; it edits the files, produces a short video, and it burns the project to disc. The resulting discs will play normally. It will save the project - or at least I can see the file name I gave to the project,with the appropriate ideogram, back in the folder where I saved it. But I can't bring the saved project itself back into PD 10 Ultra.
This is unlike either the trial version or the partly functioning (paid) Deluxe PD 10 they allowed me to download.
Do you have any suggestions for something else I might try, to get projects back into the Ultra program? If not, I will phone PD tech support again on Monday, not hoping for much.
Bill
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Can projects created in the Deluxe or trial versions be worked on in the Ultra version?
In the latest episode of my long-running effort to obtain a working *paid* copy of PD 10 from Cyberlink (other than the trial version, which worked fine), a Cyberlink tech rep sent me links to a downloadable version of the paid Ultra version. This was Cyberlink's second attempt to send a downloadable paid version which works, and it succeeded - except for one thing: I can't import or play any of the projects I made in the trial version, which I think was a 32 bit version, while the paid Ultra is a 64 bit version.
Each time I try to import a previous project so I can work on it further, I get an error message that "an error occurred trying to open this file", and I'm prompted to"browse" (but I'm already at the location of the file) "ignore", or "ignore all". If I "ignore all" the project tries to open, but in the PD time line all the clips are just black. I can see the ideograms indicating that I've previously worked on each clip, but otherwise there's nothing.
Everything else seems to work - importing files, editing, the preview player, producing, burning - but not importing previously made projects. I made only a dozen or so short projects in the trial version, so it wouldn't be an impossible task to re-do them in the paid Ultra version - and let's face it, they're not exactly great art. They're also burned to discs, so they're not completely lost. But if they can be converted somehow, so I could work on them further in Ultra, that would be nice.
Thanks - Bill Hansen
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Carl - Thanks for this tip. It works just as you said it would.
Bubba - Yes, thanks for validating what I've been doing with my video clips and projects, which is almost exactly the same thing you're doing. The only difference is that so far, I'm "packing" everything into a folder in my "My Videos" library on the C: drive. So - for each video project, all the raw video files and their project files are packed into a single subfolder. I have a 1 TB drive to which I'm going to move all the videos and still images, once I get the bugs worked out of my installation of PD 10 (I've posted another thread about that - never mind). All image files and videos get backed up to two different external HDs, nightly.
So far, I've just been burning projects to disc, using either MEPG-4 or H.264.AVI. I don't have a BD burner. That will come much later, after I've learned a lot more about how to shoot, produce, and burn videos. I'm new to video (you couldn't tell that, could you? ; ) but I'm pretty good at working with still image files, so I have a little experience in how to archive things.
Bill
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Is there a way to change the default path to which projects are saved, and from which they're opened? By default, it appears to me that PD looks for new video files in a heirarchy several levels above the Win 7 "Videos" library (I know, I know - I dislike the "Library" thing too). I'd like to be able to go directly to My Videos when I want to open files.
Also, once I start working on a project, I notice that PD likes to save projects to itself, but I'm uncomfortable with that. I like to keep the raw video files and the finished projects in the same folder or subfolder, so I can easily return to the raw files if I want to do that. Is there a way to change the default place to which PD saved videos? (I wouldn't need to save it to the specific sulfolder I'm working from, but it sure would help if I could at least have PD look in Videos/My Videos).
Thanks - Bill Hansen
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Hi Dave - Thanks for your reply. I don't have a second computer which is powerful enough to run Power Director - but I'm absolutely certain that the desktop computer is capable of doing a straightforward installation. After all, it's been running Photo Shop in various versions, including the current CS5, and that installed without trouble. Also, the trial version of Power Director 10 installed without any difficulty. (In fact, I've just installed that trial version for the fourth - and as I wrote to someone else, the *last*) time.)
I like PD a lot. Having used Pinnacle for several months, about 18 months ago, PD is much easier to use and is just as full featured. PD is not an easy program to learn for a relative newcomer to video, and the tutorials are really made for people who already know what they're doing, as a couple of other people have written to the Forums. But over time, I can learn this program and I'm pretty sure it will work well for me. I just need to get that installation done!
One hopeful note - just a few minutes ago, when I signed on to the Cyberlink site itself (not the Forums), there was an offer of a month's free phone support. You can bet that tomorrow I will be calling that number! Maybe it will be my magic ticket.
By the way, it's easier to call me "Bill" rather than Wilhelm, though Wilhelm was my given name. I don't know how the Forums got me listed that way, except that Wilhelm was the name I have on my credit card, and I paid for PD 10 with a credit card.
Bill
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Tony - Unfortunately, no surprises. Uninstalled trial version using C Cleaner, tried again (third time) to instal lpaid version from the disc. There was no icon in the drive in which the e: drive where I had placed the install disc - no .exe file - opened that blank "icon", poked around, found folder labelled "autorun", tried that, but after 45 minutes, it just hung the computer. Restarted computer. Repeated the attempt to install from disc using the D: drive though I knew both drives are working normally - same result. Now I'm going to unstall the trial version for the third (and last) time.
I'm beginning to feel like I'm doing one of those things "Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results". :
Very disappointed in Cyberlink customer support. They have not replied to my last email and have not sent the promised link to a downloadable and activate-able form of the program. Maybe they will reply tomorrow or the next day. I'm running out of patience.
Bill
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Thanks Tony - Thanks for the duggestions about using C Cleaner or Revo to uninstall the trial version. Of course I uninstalled the trial version before trying to install the paid version from the install disc, but I used the Uninstall module from Windows Explorer though, not C Cleaner (which I do have). I'll try an uninstall with C Cleaner, and if that doesn't work I'll try Revo, which I don't have yet.
Bill
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Do I understand correctly that I should first uninstall the trial version, then run CL Cleaner, and after doing those two things, then try to install the paid version?
(Cyberlink stated that they had sent a link so I could download a version which I could activate without paying for the program a second time - but there was no link to download such a version. Sigh - hopefully, a fourth email to Cyberlink will resolve the problem. If not, I gues my alternatives are either to pay a second time, or to move on to another program - Adobe Premier Essentials??)
Bill
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If I've used the trial version of PD 10 and - later on - I download a fully functional version (which I can activate without paying for the program a second time - see below) should I first install and run the CL Cleaner patches Dafydd has mentioned?
Here's why I ask:
While awaiting the arrival of the install disc for my purchased version of PD 10, I used the trial version for several days. When the install disc for the paid version arrived from Cyberlink, it would not install. When I examined it in the removeable drive, several items were listed, but there was no .exe file, and none of the items listed would cause any action on the part of the computer. That is, there was no installation.
Writing back and forth to Cyberlink tech support, they are apparently unwilling to send another disc, but they are willing to provide me a path whereby I can download the full version and activate it without paying for the program a second time (they do have a record of the keycode for the disc I purchased). I think this is the best I'm going to get from Cyberlink - and it will work out perfectly well, *if* I can get the downloaded files to install.
Please note that this will *not be an upgrade* to the paid version, using the trial version as a starting point. If I did that, I'd have to pay for the program a second time. Cyberlink tech support is offering to provide me a downloadable version which I can activate using the keycode I have from the corrupted install disc they sent.
I'm going to hold off downloading this install file from Cyberlink until I hear from one or more of you either that (1) there is no need to use the CL Cleaner patches in my case, or that (2) I should use the CL Cleaner. Any info on how to use those patches (do they install into the trial version I have now, are they used after a manual uninstall of the trial version, do I use them after uninstalling the trial version, etc) would be extremely helpful.
I have to get this right !! I think it's my last chance to get a working version of the PD 10 program.
Thanks - Bill Hansen
OS is Win 7 64 bits - computer has Intel i7 at 2.33 mHz, 6 GB RAM, 1 GB V-RAM. There has been no trouble editing, rendering, or burning using the trial version of PD 10 and this computer. (Yes, I still have a ton of questions about how to use PD 10 - but those can wait until this problem is solved.)
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Not much progress on this so far - Replying to my note about a corrupted install disc, Cyberlink sent links to two patches which they said would allow me to activate the trial version of PD 10 without buying the program a second time. I responded that I would much rather have an install disc which works, but after my reply the links to the patches Cyberlink recommended disappeared from the "support ticket" thread. I'm waiting for further response from Cyberlink.
I was pleased that Cyberlink did respond to my initial email within a day or so. I hope that they will re-send the patches which allow me to activate the trial version of PD 10. I'm still unsure of whether I'll get a workable install disc for PD 10. From their initial reply, it appeared that Cyberlink had no plans to send one.
Bill
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Thanks Bubba. That's good advice, of course. [Oops - didn't realize that you were replying to the OP, not to me.]
Bill
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